As you look for new ways to stimulate the children in your classroom you might consider redesigning the classroom to resemble a Riverbank Habitat.
If you don't yet have a reading loft in your classroom you might ask your classroom parents to build you a reading loft. Use an old refrigerator box to create a treetrunk around it or in one corner. Line the loft with pillows and have a bin of otter books available. Set up a CD player with Nature Sounds to very quietly play in the background. Use clear christmas lights or a light rope to give enough light to read by. Add a couple of stuffed otters to cuddle with and read to. A blue rug resembling a river might be added to the entrance.
Tree branches could continue onto the ceiling along and be held up by fishline from the ceiling tile supports. Leaves can also be attached with fishline above the reading area. Some of the leaves could hang a little further down and have words written on them. Write the same word on each side so that as they move around everyone can still read them.
LEAF WORDS:
bird
chipmunk
bluejay
crow
owl
squirrel
Have the kids suggest other words and make more leaves. Look for ideas in "Little Joe Otter" and other books by Thornton Burgess.
For more ideas about River Otters and teaching go to River Otters: Playful Friends of the Woodlands!.
